ACT II.

The stage represents the night.

FIRST SCENE.

CLERMONT TONNERRE, LA PORTE, THE DIVISION COMMANDER, CHARTON,[BACMAN] A MAJOR IN THE SWISS GUARDS.

LA PORTE.

It gives me great pleasure, Gentlemen, to see you gathered in the palace of our kings in order to defend the most virtuous of monarchs. But your courage alone will not suffice. Are you sure of your men?

BACHMAN, A MAJOR IN THE SWISS GUARDS.

Monsieur de la Porte, silver and brandy double a soldier’s courage! I can answer for my Swiss Guards.

LA PORTE, to the Division Commander.

And you Monsieur?

THE DIVISION COMMANDER.

The National Guard is not won over in this way. The majority believe they are defending the motherland by supporting the King’s Constitution. That language was the only one I could use to persuade the Citizens. Three divisions will come to the castle tonight.

CHARTON.

And the other three will stay put.

LA PORTE.

It is as if they were serving us.

CLERMONT TONNERRE.

The neutrality of a major force in these circumstances is most favourable to us. We will win, the entire chateau is armed to the teeth!

LA PORTE.

Thanks to my efforts.

CLERMONT TONNERRE.

Monsieur de La Porte, say ‘Thanks to the Constituent Assembly’. What would you have done without the civil list? Revolutions and counter-revolutions are made with gold.

LA PORTE, genially.

Nothing, you are right! (To the Major.) Mr Bacman, I have ordered twelve hundred beds to be made up for the Swiss guards, and the counterfeit Swiss guards, who did not sleep last night. I have ordered supper to be prepared for your ten thousand men.

CHARTON.

Be sparing with the wine, but when things erupt, do not forget the brandy and the gunpowder.

CLERMONT TONNERRE.

The Queen is late in coming…..but here she is.

SECOND SCENE.

THE SAME, THE PRINCESS OF LAMBALLE, THE QUEEN.

THE QUEEN, giving a letter she is holding to a footman.

Fly to the Mayor of Paris and do not leave him until he has obeyed the King’s orders. (Coming downstage.) He will come and we will find out by what right he would cast aside the decrees of a Constitution of which he claims to be the apostle. As for the rest, let him throw it over if he can and destroy his own work, I will not criminalize him for it, but if we are to perish, he must perish with us! He will come, presumably?

THE DIVISION COMMANDER.

If he thinks himself beyond reproach, he will will not hesitate.

THE QUEEN.

Do you think he is beyond reproach? Do you think he serves the Nation with purity and impartiality? His ambition is not commonplace. If he defies us, it will not be because he disdains dignities, but because of his love for the highest rank! That he seeks to despoil us in order to step into our shoes proves it without a doubt. Leader of a party, can he be unambitious?….I know him! His nature has not escaped me! He is a hypocrite pretending to be sensitive and patriotic. He will come, he will appear to pity the King. He will even try and  give him new advice on the danger that threatens him; then he will leave to go and arm the assassins with his own fair hand. Thus, I share the opinion of Monsieur Clermont Tonnerre: once we have him in the chateau, we must prevent him from leaving; should his populace be stronger than us, it will not dare attempt a murderous act while we hold its magistrate, so on all counts, this man is as useful to us as the armed forces!

THIRD SCENE.

THE SAME, A DOORMAN.

THE QUEEN.

So soon?

THE DOORMAN.

Madame, the Mayor was arriving at the chateau just as I was leaving to go and find him. Once he had read the King’s letter he said that he was delighted to have anticipated the wishes of his Majesty, and that he would not abandon him until calm was reestablished. He is with a Division Commander, and if your Majesty could hear him….

THE QUEEN, interrupting him.

That’s enough. Heavens, could I have been mistaken? Could I be unlucky enough that this rebel be an honest man? No, he is incapable of being so on our behalf. As for the rest, of what use is his virtue or his subterfuge! Knights of France, my faith is in you alone, we must pull ourselves out of the cruel position we are in, this awful choice is a hundred times crueller than death.

THE KNIGHTS, all together.

On our oath.

CLERMONT TONNERRE.

Madame, leave it to us. The star that lights the day will barely have touched the earth with its first rays that we will be no more, or you will have triumphed, and the star of monarchy will stretch out its arms that were almost lost.

THE QUEEN, considering the Knights of the Dagger with delight.

The glory of serving Kings belongs to the nobility alone. Throughout time, they have shed their blood for the majesty of the throne. No more throne, no nobility! No more King, no nobility! A common interest binds us today, one to the other, more tha[n] ever. The die is cast! The counterrevolution or death! I am going in…..I wish to hear the Mayor of Paris’s conversation. Monsieur de La Porte, follow me.

FOURTH SCENE.

CLERMONT TONNERRE, THE LEGION COMMANDER, THE MAJOR OF THE SWISS GUARDS, A CROWD OF KNIGHTS OF THE DAGGER, GRENADIERS (All come in from the opposite side of the Queen’s exit.)

A KNIGHT OF THE DAGGER, to Clermont Tonnerre, the Major of the Swiss guards and the Legion Commander.

Gentlemen, here is the Mayor of Paris! (Pulling out his dagger.) Must we strike him? We are all ready.

CLERMONT TONNERRE.

It is not time for that yet, when I come from seeing the King I will tell you what to do.

A GRENADIER, aside.

What do I see, what do I hear? I have been deceived, I have been deceived.

A SECOND GRENADIER, noticing his difficulty, whispering.

Comrade, I have also been deceived. We are in a cavern, and must find a means to escape. We must save the magistrate of the people at whatever cost! Pretend to be ill, you already look different. (Aloud, to the Legion Commander, pretending to be drunk, himself.) Sir, my comrade here has let our good King’s wine go to his head. He needs a few hours rest, and I’ll accompany him, if you’ll give the orders.

THE LEGION COMMANDER.

Go. Gentlemen, you really should have guarded against getting into such a state.

THE SECOND GRENADIER, pretending to be slightly tipsy.

You are right,Sir, but our good King and our good Queen have provided us with such good wine that we couldn’t resist, you see. And we, in gratitude, are going to enable ourselves to better serve their Majesties, and your plans.

They exit holding each other up, swaying this way and that, like drunks; they stand aside, at the back of the Stage, to allow the Mayor of Paris to go past. They lift their hands up to the sky on seeing him, and makes signs to him that he finds surprising. They threaten the others as they leave.

THE MAYOR, from the back of the Stage, watching the Grenadiers go away.

What do those two Grenadiers mean by that sign? (Considering the Knights of the Dagger.) What is the meaning of this movement that reigns in the castle? I had been warned, but I did not want to believe it….. Most of these people are unknown to me….. Let me go to the King! (He goes further towards the rear of the Stage.)

CLERMONT TONNERRE, stopping him.

My old colleague and people’s magistrate, you owe us some explanation for these popular gatherings.

THE MAYOR, severely.

Monsieur, I rather think I need to ask the same of all of you.

THE MAJOR OF THE SWISS GUARDS.

That’s taking imposture a bit far.

THE MAYOR, surprised.

Are those words being addressed to me?

THE MAJOR OF THE SWISS GUARDS.

To you, yourself!

THE MAYOR.

In answer to all that, suffice it to say that my conduct gives the lie to this calumny.

THE MAJOR OF THE SWISS GUARDS.

Why Monsieur, have you not prevented this popular rally that is prejudicial to the King’s person?

THE MAYOR.

The one who never did harm has difficulty seeing it in others; meanwhile, I begin to notice how easy it is to lead astray those who are the most confident and clear-sighted.

THE MAJOR OF THE SWISS GUARDS.

You have only taken that into consideration today! And the invasion of the castle on the twentieth of June, that did not alert you to your duty?

THE MAYOR.

I could dispense with answering you, Major, but I am happy to explain myself openly. I know all the duties that my position imposes upon me. I understand that the task is terrible and hard to fulfil. A people who could break its irons no longer wants to be subjected to the yoke of tyrants. This people is moved by divine sensations. The love of liberty makes it fall into the traps laid by the Court’s conspirators; some vile citizens, more ambitious than helpful, have the same aim as the Court, yes I say again, of the Court; for the last time, I have come to instruct the King! If there is still time, I will pull him back from the precipice where you have driven him, or I will die with him. There is your work and my conduct.

THE LEGION COMMANDER.

We will bid you to do so, Monsieur, and I can tell you that the National Guard has sworn to uphold the Constitution, to defend the King and to implement the law.

THE MAYOR.

I came to authorise you to do so but I will declare to you that I will give you no order to fire on the people unless it comes from the National Assembly and the King! The day of the twentieth that you reproach me for is a sure guarantee that gentleness does more good than rigour!

CLERMONT TONNERRE.

What! If the people arrived at the chateau, in the night, fully armed?….

THE MAYOR, interrupting him.

In that desperate case, we would repulse force with force, but I flatter myself that my voice will prevail upon the mass of good Citizens, and that they would not slaughter their brothers, their friends, without knowing why or wherefore.

A KNIGHT OF THE DAGGER.

Empty evasion; do you believe that we are duped by all your subterfuge? You will not leave the castle as you came in! You must die at your post beside the King, like us, to defend him.

THE MAYOR.

I am prepared for it, but, should the people present themselves to the gates tonight, do not think that I will make of this castle a frightful butchery. I will harangue them, and hope to win them back, but if you fire on them, I will pull off my sash and place myself at their head.

THE KNIGHT OF THE DAGGER.

What audacity! (They all make a move to draw their daggers.)

CLERMONT TONNERRE, to Pétion.

I am angry on your behalf that you are Mayor of Paris and that you continue to support a cause that honest people abandoned a long time ago. What have you to hope for, but the bitterest ingratitude. From the Capitol to the Tarpeian Rock there is but one step, as you know. There is your reward from the people!

THE MAYOR.

God willing that treatment will be the least of my concerns! But the Court Daggers may not allow me to hope in such a glorious end.

CLERMONT TONNERRE.

Do you fear that you are amongst your enemies? We are all good Citizens and I think….

[This is where the unfinished play ends. Someone collecting the sheets for the trial has written ‘Derniere [sic]’ (last), and signed their name.]

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